It's not fair to compare the two... A different kind of day - A different kind of fun. A day taking the ferry to the island is not meant to replace the Boob's Cruise. Two different agendas
We went to Isla 4 days ago. We walked the 5 minute trip to the Ultramar Ferry located next to the pirate ships. At the time we paid about $75 for two ferry tickets and a golf cart rental through their GoMar II rental service. We were planning to rent a cart from Indios on Isla as they have great reviews on trip advisor compared to GoMar, but we decided to take the easy route and pay for everything at once. The ferry ride took about 20 minutes and we departed the ferry into a very congested area. We walked the few blocks to GoMar II but the cart was not ready. We waited approx 30 minutes for the company to bring us a cart from their offsite storage area. There are reviews of people running out of gas with GoMar carts and people having to wait long periods of time on the side of the road for the service crew. I checked the gas, it was about 1/4 full. I asked for gas, they told me it was enough. I waited another 5 minutes for them to bring gas. The guys at GoMar live up to their reviews. GoMarII Rentals After we were off, we toured the entire island. The North end was entirely too crowded for us (Dec 30 New years crowds??) and we spent most of out time on the south end of the island. The east side of the island is very pretty and the streets run alongside the ocean. This area is mostly residential. The west side of the island has many resorts, bars, beaches, and activities, but the ocean view is blocked by buildings and trees. At the far south end of the island, there is a park that has paths along the shoreline. We spent a significant amount of time there as it was not too crowded and offered spectacular views of the ocean. Picture of park at the South end of Isla Mujeres After touring the island and we decided to head to Playa Lancheros for lunch as this was recommended by several local individuals and they all said to ask for the fish special. We made our way there on the golf cart and discovered that this is the beach next the place that the Boob cruise uses for their Isla destination. We sat down and had a couple of beers while we waited on the food. The fish special takes about 35 minutes to prepare and they will inform you of this up front. The food was wonderful, the beach was beautiful, and we enjoyed our visit to Playa Lancheros. Picture of fish special at Lancheros All in all, the island was not quite what we were expecting. We had a great time but this was a one time destination for us. It was a bit too crowded for our liking and the nice parts of the island are long drives on crowded streets. Ok I know the island is small, but it seems like a long way when taxis are zooming by you on the narrow streets. We passed Garrifon park and a dolphin exhibit along the way which may be nice, but we decided to pass on these as they appeared to be crowed and not exactly what we were looking for. We road in on the 10:30AM ferry to Isla and returned on the 3:30 ferry back to the mainland. This was enough for us. After a day in the sun and the hustle and bustle of the island, sitting idle in the sexy pool and drinking a margarita afterwards was the perfect way for us to wind down the day. Isla is officially off our Cuncun bucket list.
That is a GREAT review! We have been wanting to do it (and we still might) but I think the 'negitives' you mentioned are kinda what has been keeping us away. We are going for 8 days later this year so we may find time to finally cross it off our list. Nikki
Yes that was a great review, but the OP missed the whole North side of the island. Thats where the action is, plus the great beach. The OP also mentions that they went against their better judgement and rented from a company with bad reviews. Three time we have walked into Isla golf cart rentals. put 40 bucks on the counter and was in our cart within 10 minutes. Yes, there will be taxis passing you but they are never dangerous or disrespectful. Maybe its because I drive in NYC alot but for us it was fine. There is plenty to see and fun to be had on Isla, dont let this review deter you. Like I said, we have done this 3 times and plan to do it again in May. Go enjoy yourself.
Great review. Thank you. I respect everything you said as it was probably 100% true. The questions that arise are: You arrive at a congested area. What do you consider congestion? Too crowded. What do you consider too crowded? Long drives. What do you consider a long drive? Long streets. What do you consider long streets? Etc... I've been to the island 3 times and we have loved it each time and can't wait to go back. We didn't find the crowds too long, streets too long, drive too long etc.. But this is just my opinion. I did think the last ferry out at 5:30 was very congested but that's my opinion. When we arrive we also hit the first golf cart rental and put down our money and get a cart right away. Never had problems. Please don't answer the questions, my point is that we loved the place and you didn't find it so hot. I think people should go check it out for themselves. Don't take my advice or someone else's. Check it out for yourself and get it off you Cancun bucket list!!!
We went and spent about six hours there. The carts were cheap like 35 bucks. We did that park/garden area with the trails to the cliffs. It was like 2-3 dollars to get in. It was amazing and we were very happy with the pictures we got. We went to the sea turtle sanctuary also, it was also 2-3 bucks to get in. You can feed the turtles which was nice. I think i tipped the guy 5 bucks there and he let us take a few pics holding the baby turtles which was really cool. We went by the dolphin place but they wanted like 30 bucks each to go in. It was supposed to include all inclusive food and drinks. But to be honest it was in the swampy area and it stunk to hell so we skipped that. Other than the little beach we went too the Boobs Cruise at I didnt see any beaches that seemed cool to go skinny dipping in. We really werent looking for that there though. I did notice that the place we ate on the beach cost 45 for lunch. But they exchange rate seemed off so I paid with CC and came out to 31. So maybe keep that in mind if you grab lunch/dinner on the island.
As a follow up to my review, I didn't mean for it to come out negative. We enjoyed everything about our trip to Isla with the exception of the GoMar II golf cart rental company. There are other rental companies to choose from and my negative comments toward GoMar were to ward off any future visitors that my be inclined to simply pay for the ferry ticket and the golf cart rental combination at the ferry ticket booth like we did. We had a great time on the island, but for us it will be a one time trip. It is close, cheap, and very convenient to make a day or half day trip to Isla for people looking to do something off resort. We went on Dec 30. I suspect the island was more crowded at this time than usual. Finding a parking spot for the golf cart anywhere near the North Beach was almost impossible this day. Riding the cart around the North end of the island was stop and go in traffic the day we arrived. Numerous taxis stopped unloading visitors and lots of cart traffic. Again, this was probably the holiday crowd. We enjoyed our stay but here is a picture of what we were looking for: And here is an actual picture or Playa Norte. It is not my picture as the weather was much better the day we were there but it is a good representation of the people we saw on the beach on Dec 30, 2015. Mujeres_Playa_Norte_Beach Maybe we were just looking for the wrong thing or have our expectations set too high. For us, the south end of the island was much closer what we were looking for.
We had a family vacation at All Ritmo (formerly Sea Adventure) in November, we took the Ultramar up north from Puerto Juarez. Does anyone know if you can leave from the location by TTR but take the ferry back to Puerto Juarez? The ferry runs until midnight and 1 am to Puerto Juarez, so if one would want to stay later this might be an option. I guess you could just buy one way tickets if they won't sell you the different return with the departure.
Just may have been the time of year you went as well. We were there in October did the walk along the beach to the ferry depot left about 11:00am or so we got to the island and the beach didn't look anything like that. It was fairly wide open. But then again when we went over we weren't exactly going over to lie on the beach we went to explore the island, we did notice when we got off the ferry we went from a pretty wide open dock to what I'd say was a little terminal which was lined on both sides with little shops with displays and about enough room for 2 people to walk side by side but that was it. We rented our cart from a company that was two or three storefronts to the right from the terminal. I was a little leery about leaving my license and as I was assured I was getting his best cart off we went to explore. We headed right down the main drag found a spot for lunch and enjoyed the balcony view of the beach while we ate. After lunch headed out to explore and drove to a Mayan / Aztec ( I apologize can't remember which one it was ) ruin they had a small little arch and an altar. Stopped there for awhile had a little look about watched a fellow tourist allow their child to crawl under a fenced area and climb on a statue of a turtle for a photo op. Got a fuck you asshole when I said loud enough that maybe that wasn't a great idea as I'm pretty sure our Mexican hosts would be offended. From there we headed back out onto the road past the seashell house you can google map it, it's cool to see. Back to town and did a quick drive through the jewelry section, after not finding anything that piqued her interest ( yeah lucky bastard me huh ) we dropped off the cart headed for a beer while waiting for the ferry ride back got on the ferry and then walked back to the resort.
We departed the ferry next to TTR and were informed that we could take return ferry the Puerto Juarez if we like at no additional charge. I believe he said we could choose any 4 of their return destinations.
